Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 336 · December 2
The God of Hope
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
Today's verse is a prayer, and Paul writes it as one: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." He is asking God to give hope to people who do not have enough of it.
That raises a plain question. If hope has to be asked for, what should you do on the days when you have none? The chapter offers no technique. It points you to a supply: "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." The Greek word behind "patience" means staying under a heavy load without walking away. So hope grows in people who keep coming back to God's word through long stretches when nothing seems to change. And look at who Paul is praying for. He has just spent a chapter and a half settling an argument about food and holy days, between believers who each thought the other side was less spiritual. Then he lines up four quotations from the Old Testament about the Gentiles, people from outside Israel, being brought in, and the last one ends, "in him shall the Gentiles trust."
Think of someone in your church who annoys you by how they do things, and who may be running short of hope just now. That is exactly the kind of person Paul was praying for. This week, pray his sentence over that person by name, and keep it between you and God. The God of hope is able to fill them, and the same prayer was written for you.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 336 is Desires Fulfilled (Psalm 145:19).